When I began investigating the Raw Food diet, it was with a heavy heart that I realised pasta would no longer be on the menu. Not the pasta I was used to anyway.

However, I have fallen in love with raw zucchini pasta, and the available range of sauces that can be made. I can honestly say that I haven’t missed traditional pasta at all.

Over the next few posts, I will explore a variety of pasta dishes and give you my verdict on how they compare.

We will start with Basil Pesto Pasta (pesto being another dish I am rather partial to). First though, let’s look at what ‘raw pasta’ is.

Rather than traditional pasta, which is made from flour and eggs, rolled and then boiled, raw pasta is made from vegetables. Zucchinis tend to work the best, as they have firm flesh that doesn’t disintegrate when formed into noodles. You can however throw in some carrot (or other vegies) to mix up the texture a bit. Cucumbers don’t tend to work well, as they are too wet.

To form the noodles, the easiest option is to use a spiraliser. This was the first raw appliance that I bought, and it was worth every cent! It honestly takes about 60 seconds to make two bowls of noodles – and that includes washing, topping and tailing the zucchini. The spiraliser I have has 3 blades, so I can make thin noodles, thick noodles, or wide strips, tagliatelle-style. If you don’t have a spiraliser, you could use a julienne peeler, a grater, mandolin, or simply chop the zucchini finely (if you have good knife skills, unlike me).

Then it’s simply a matter of making your selected sauce and tossing the noodles through. Buon appetito!

I didn’t have any pumpkin seeds, so I used additional pine nuts insteadI found the full amount of salt a little overpowering, so suggest adding half then adjust to taste from thereI added some semi-dried tomatoes when mixing the pesto throughI halve the recipe to serve 2You honestly don’t miss the cheese in the pesto! The pesto would also make a great dip, though I would probably reduce the amount of oil a little to make a thicker mix if that was my intention.